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Tuesday, March 14, 2017

The Prayer that is the Terror of Demons

Dear Daughters of St. Philip Neri,

The profundity of the work that God has called you to may seem eclipsed by the work that is emphasized in the world and even within the Church. Yet, what the Lord calls you to, though a work hidden from the eyes of all, is something that emerges from the desire of His own Heart. He calls you to participate in His Eucharistic work through inviting you to make reparation through adoration. He desires that you comfort Him by abiding in His presence and resting close to His Heart; to choose to remain with Him - nay, to prefer to remain with Him above everything. What is obtained by coming to Him by night? Nothing less He tells us than the liberation of souls. To do battle with the powers of darkness for the world by remaining with Him in prayer late into the night or before daybreak. "More souls are saved and liberated by adoration made during the night than by any other form of prayer." It is to come to Him as He went to the Father in prayer at night. It is to remain with Him even though darkness seems to prevail not only in nature but in the world. As He poured Himself out to the Father so you can pour yourself out with the same expression of love and ascent of the will. Such self-emptying adoration conquers the world and heals the wounds inflicted by demons on souls. Prepare yourselves then daughters - for the demons both fear and hate such love. Fear not, however, for angels will minister to you as they did to the Lord.All else is of secondary importance. What could be of greater importance than to attend to His body broken and His blood poured out for love of the world? What could you be more anxious to do than to spend your energy and attention consoling unrequited love? What more precious thing could one pursue than to perpetually abide in His presence? In what other place could you seek and be filled with greater vitality, joy and peace that will nurture the world? It is here - in your hearts and through the Love of Christ - that the priesthood will be born anew. A great work of love is being done here, one that proceeds directly from My Eucharistic Heart, to glorify My Father and to redeem the world—for the work of redemption is continued in the Sacrament of My Body and Blood until the end of time. I have chosen you to share in this Eucharistic work of Mine by calling you to this very life of adoration and reparation that you see here.
I am here in the Most Blessed Sacrament for you and for the whole world. Take your place here before Me, and abide before My Face, close to My Heart that is all love.
It is no little thing for a poor human creature of Mine to prefer My Eucharistic love to an hour of sleep in the night. Only in heaven will you know the worth of an hour so spent. Come to Me, then. Visit Me, and remain with Me by night, and I will work for you, and with you, and through you by day. By nocturnal adoration you will obtain from My Heart things which cannot be obtained from Me in any other way, especially the liberation of souls from the influence and oppression of the powers of darkness. More souls are saved and liberated by adoration made during the night than by any other form of prayer: this is the prayer that unites you most closely to My own nights passed entirely in prayer during My life on earth.
Come to Me, then, by night, and you shall experience My power and My presence at your side during the day. Ask of Me whatsoever you will by coming to Me at night, and you will experience My merciful help at break of day. I love with a love of predilection those whom I call to be with Me during the hours of the night. The prayer of adoration at night has the power and efficacy of that prayer made with fasting that I recommended to My apostles as the means of expelling demons from the souls whom they torture and oppress. For this reason, the demons fear and hate adoration made at night, while the angels rejoice over it, and place themselves at the service of the soul who desires to do it.

Rise earlier. Give Me the first hours of the day. Come to Me before seeking anything or anyone else. I will strengthen you to use well the hours of each day begun in this way. I have called you to be My adorer; all else is secondary. I wait for you in the Sacrament of My love and I am often disappointed because you allow other things to absorb your time and consume your energy. Give Me as much time as you can, and I will give you time and energy to do all that you must do. You will see that by coming to Me first, everything else will appear to you in its just proportions. You will do one thing after another, and all that you do will be marked by serenity and by an inward adoration toward My abiding presence in the tabernacle.
I call you to a life of perpetual adoration. Perpetual adoration is a loving attention to My presence. It is a seeking after My Face and a drawing close to My Heart that never ceases and that suffuses every moment of life. This perpetual adoration nonetheless begins with and returns to times of real adoration spent before My Eucharistic Face, during which all other things are left aside. Come, then, to the place apart that I have prepared for you. I wait for you there. Come to My tabernacle and abide in My presence. I will fill you with joy, with serenity, and with wisdom for the demands of the day. Begin always by adoring Me. Do not allow your heart to grow cold towards My Eucharistic presence. I have called you to this life for one thing only: to adore Me for the sake of My beloved priests, your brothers, especially for the sake of those who never come into My sacramental presence to find, close to My Heart, refreshment, light, peace, and, above all else, the love for which I created them and of which I have made them My servants. In Sinu Jesu
When Heart Speaks to HeartA Journal of a priest at prayer

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“Let us concentrate intensely on Christ’s divine love and let us enter deeply into the wound in His side, into the living font of the wisdom of God made man, so as to drown ourselves in Him and not be able to find again the road which leaves Him.” (St. Philip Neri)

These words capture poignantly the desires and hopes of the Daughters of St. Philip Neri who seek like their patron to enter and remain hidden close to the heart of Christ so that enflamed by His Spirit of love their lives may become a sacrifice of praise to God. Reflecting on the difficult situation in which Christ’s Church struggles, they resolve to make their humble contribution to renew the life of the Christian faithful and in particular the priesthood through their dedication to Adoration, Reparation, and Spiritual Motherhood for Priests.

Through these means, the Daughters of St. Philip Neri with humility and joy communicate the gifts of the Holy Spirit which so enlarged the heart of their patron; they bring human and spiritual encouragement, and share intimately in the mission and influence of priests through willing identification with Jesus Christ and participation in the victimhood of the Love.